‘Left should not meddle in security issues’

The government went on the offensive against the Left parties' stand on the nuclear deal, saying the agenda for national security cannot be set on the basis of the Left’s political beliefs. It has dismissed the Left’s heightened rhetoric as a political game plan.

Indicating that the government is not too keen to build consensus on the issue, Rao Inderjit Singh, Minister of State for Defence Production, told HT on Saturday, “It is clear that political motivations stand behind the Left’s rejection of budding Indo-US ties.” Singh said matters of national security were best left to experts and not political ideologies.

His outspoken comments come on the heels of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s dare to the Left parties to withdraw support to his government over the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal. India and the US will be holding their biggest-ever joint naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal this September.